DIY: Air Conditioner Cooling System (Images Attached)

[trigg]

Hi guys!

Today I was a bit bored and decided to try cooling my PC with a 1.3KW Portable Air Conditioner. My idea was to connect a pipe from the "cold air output" section of the air conditioner to an intake fan on my PC. The whole setup took about 20mins to find parts laying around my house and put it together. Here are some details on the build:

The Setup
*Note: AC was set to MAX fan speed and 16 degrees Celsius.

PC SYSTEM

• 
  CPU: i5-3570K (Overclocked to 4.4Ghz)
  GPU: Gigabyte G1 GTX 970 (Overclock 1504mhz Core Clock, 7560Mhz Mem Clock)
  MOBO: AsRock Z77 Extreme 4
  CPU COOLER: Noctua D-14

Testing

• 
  Prime 95 was used for max load on the CPU
  FurMark 1080p Benchmark was used for max load on the GPU

TEMP RESULTS
*Note temp readings are in degrees Celsius.

Data

My question is:
Does anyone have experience with this kind of setup? I'm a little worried that condensation could buildup inside the computer and destroy my hardware.

So basically on average this setup made my PC run 10 Degrees Celsius cooler.

 

[VYZZAL]

Dont do it man. As you said condensation problem.It may short-circuit with your hardware.

 

[trigg]

Dont do it man. As you said condensation problem.It may short-circuit with your hardware.

Yeah this is what I was thinking. The only way this could work well is for a water cooling system with external radiator(s). Time to spend more money?

 

[4Ryan6]

Looks familiar, been there done that with an AC window unit!

10c cooler is not a condensation problem to my knowledge and I have a lot of experience in that area!

The problem is not really condensation have you actually seen any?

Probably not at all?

The problem is an AC unit like you are using is designed to cool an entire room meaning the AC compressor cycles on and off which is great for cooling a room but not so great for constant useable computer cooling, and it wont get any better than it is now.

I'd say enjoy it as long as you can tolerate the noise with it running next to your computer but you're not going to get any earth shattering cooling results from it.

It's a nice experiment to learn from but, the end results will never outweigh the hassle, at least it didn't to me.

 

[trigg]

Looks familiar, been there done that with an AC window unit!

10c cooler is not a condensation problem to my knowledge and I have a lot of experience in that area!

The problem is not really condensation have you actually seen any?

Probably not at all?

The problem is an AC unit like you are using is designed to cool an entire room meaning the AC compressor cycles on and off which is great for cooling a room but not so great for constant useable computer cooling, and it wont get any better than it is now.

I'd say enjoy it as long as you can tolerate the noise with it running next to your computer but you're not going to get any earth shattering cooling results from it.

It's a nice experiment to learn from but, the end results will never outweigh the hassle, at least it didn't to me.

No condensation seen or felt inside the case at all.

However you are 100% right, its not worth the hassle for every day use just a nice experiment.

 

[4Ryan6]

It's a nice experiment that you can learn from and you won't hurt anything in the process.

 

[alyoshka]

I believe the best way to go about this setup, would be to place a radiator or the reservoir closer to the AC's vent, that way you can keep the room cool and the rig cooler too without wasting all that electricity.
Though , I am in agreement with Ryan , that it's not going to give earth shattering results...
If you're good with trying out some other stuff, I'd suggest going the peltier way..... but again, condensation and heat.....

 

[rubix_1011]

A reservoir doesn't provide any cooling capability in a watercooling loop, just FYI.

 

[alyoshka]

lol.... yup I know , but it is in the middle of the loop also a part that can be moved out of the case if needed, keeping it cool would certainly keep a efficient radiator work even better.